At the wine tasting at the Tap House Grill I stopped at one table and one of the ladies said to me “I can't believe how much better I like this wine with the food – I would rate it an incredible food wine!” Two tables later: “I really liked this wine until I ate the food with it, it absolutely ruined the wine!”
At the fund-raising wine tasting for the Peak Swim Team it was even more apparent – one guy had his wife come up and try the Jezebel Pinot Noir that he absolutely loved – she took one sip and you would have thought we had just given her vinegar – her face wrinkled up, she reached for the spit bucket and couldn't get it out of her mouth quickly enough – “this is awful!”. An hour later another man came up with his wife and had her try the same Pinot – he also had tried it earlier and loved it – she tried it, I was apprehensive – she loved it – they bought two bottles!
A couple of lessons from this experience – if I say it's good – it just is, damn it! Just joking – I was at a wine tasting “lesson” in Burgundy a few years back from a really nice French man who liked Americans (not always a given over there) and I was trying to learn how to discern the difference between a good and bad Pinot. He poured the first tasting, taught me how to look at the color, the legs, what to look for in the nose and then he said – taste it. I did, he asked what I thought, I said “well I don't know if this is supposed to be a good one or not”. “Do you like it?” he said - “well to be honest, I don't think I like it that much.” “Perfect”, he said “that means it's not good, don't buy it. Does it matter if I think it's good but you don't like it? The only good wines are the ones YOU like and the only bad wines are the ones YOU don't like – period”. Since that day I have always remembered what Joel said that day in his barn in Burgundy. So ... when I say, “I love this wine” it means I like it, not any kind of a guarantee you will, and I think that goes for Robert Parker and the Wine Spectator as well. If they say it's a “92” and you taste it and don't like it, are you wrong? NO! I love Chinon's from the Loire Valley that get 82's – I find them interesting and delicate and they find them watery and lacking depth – WE'RE BOTH RIGHT!
A second lesson I took from these wine tastings was this. I don't believe you get to say you don't like a wine until you try it. I had to beg people to try a dry (non-sweet) Rose from Provence - “no, I don't like sweet wines” was always the sentence assuming since it was pink it was sweet. I explained that it is made from the same red grape that they were going to try down the line – Grenache, that it is done all the way to dry but that it was just a lighter version of that big heavy wine they were going to say was awesome soon! I think it was only when I said “it's what they drink all summer long on the Mediterranean” that they would try it. Only one “this is horrible” all night long! Lots of “wow, that's pretty good”. The lesson being, it's OK to say “I don't like that” as long as you've tried it, and not just tried it but done so with an open mind. Do you remember the first time you had coffee, or a beer, or blue cheese? There are still people that hate each of those but most of us love them now - the same is true of wines.
What if, like me you find you love Cabernet Franc's from the Loire Valley in France? What if you find out that while eating cured meats drizzled with white truffle honey a Barolo is the perfect complement? What if when you're at the Suki Cafe eating sushi and you find out that a semi-sweet Guwurtraiminer is the perfect pairing with all that wasabi and raw fish? What if you find out that in the end – you really don't like light bodied wines and prefer to stick to the “big” ones? Perfect – that's an informed opinion – at least you've tried the others and are now sure you prefer an Australian Shiraz to any other wine you've found.
Another lesson, if I say on my website: I found "a really good Spanish Rioja and it's a good deal" it means these two things - I like it and I think it's a good value. If you want to order it make sure you pay attention to the tasting notes and be confident it's something that “sounds good” to you. If you normally like big heavy reds and the wine I'm recommending is a farmers' blend Pinot from Burgundy that is described as “light and delicate with raspberry, strawberry and cream on the nose”, it's most likely not going to be “good” to you.
Finally, the best thing about buying wine from me is that by your purchases I get to know your palate. I get to know your level of openness to experimentation, your general budget, your level of consumption – all good things. When you are standing in front of that big wall of wine at CVS is anyone beside you saying - “I think you'd like this one”? I had a lady tell me this past week that she really can't even drink a buttery, oaky Chardonnay anymore since I got her to experiment with other white grapes – “Mark, you've ruined them for me”. Another lady and I are in the long process of finding a really good, oaky, buttery Chardonnay for her besides the dreaded “KJ” - I've struck out three times so far. Perfect! I love to get people to try new tastes and I love to find that wine that I know you'll love 'cause it's right in your wheelhouse! Both are fun and the more you buy from me, the better I get to know what I think you might like. It's that whole win/win thing!
so ... thanks to all of you who've purchased for making my job so enjoyable and for those of you who haven't, I look forward to being able to learn about your wine preferences so that I can help you enjoy wine even more than you already do!
your pal,
mt
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